Analysis of air quality changes in Małopolska in the years 2012–2020

Abstract

The article focuses on the problem of air pollution, which is referred to as smog, which, according to the WHO, causes the death of 4.2 million people annually. In Europe, the problem of smog particularly affects Poland, according to WHO data, among the 50 most polluted European cities, as many as 33 are in Poland. Out of concern for the health of the residents, Polish law has given local authorities the opportunity to introduce anti-smog resolutions. Anti-smog resolutions focus mainly on reducing dust emissions from the municipal and housing sector, and according to the data of the National Centre for Balancing and Emissions Management, it is responsible for approximately 49% of dust emissions into the atmosphere in Poland. Małopolska also adopted anti-smog resolutions in 2016 (for the city of Kraków) and 2017 (for the remaining area of the voivodeship). Nevertheless, actions under the implementation of air protection programs in Małopolska have been undertaken much earlier. In the years 2013–2018, 43.6 thousand boilers and stoves using solid fuels were decommissioned in Małopolska, including 22.5 thousand in Kraków alone. The article analyzes the changes in air quality in Małopolska in the years 2012–2020. The data analysis focused on five basic pollutants included in smog (i.e. PM10 and PM2.5 dust, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide) and the readings of 8 air quality monitoring stations (3 located in the city of Krakow and 5 stations located outside Krakow). The main purpose of the analysis was to show whether the measures taken in Małopolska lead to the improvement of air quality. For this purpose, both changes in daily average and annual average pollutant concentrations recorded by individual measurement stations, as well as changes in the number of days in the heating season in which the limit values were exceeded were analyzed. The analysis of the available measurement data for the years 2012–2020 clearly showed that there are pollutants for which the permissible content in the air is exceeded many times a year throughout the voivodeship. At the same time, in the analyzed period, there are noticeable decreasing trends in the observed concentrations of individual pollutants in the air, which proves that the measures taken in Małopolska to improve air quality are slowly bringing results.